Our Country is in Danger, but Not to be Despaired of: 1775 Oration Highlights

”The tools of power, in every age, have racked their inventions to justify the few in sporting with the happiness of the many; and, having found their sophistry too weak to hold mankind in bondage, have impiously dared to force religion, the daughter of the king of heaven, to become a prostitute in the service of hell.”

”Your fathers look from their celestial seats with smiling approbation on their sons, who boldly stand forth in the cause of virtue; but sternly frown upon the inhuman miscreant, who, to secure the loaves and fishes to himself, would breed a serpent to destroy his children.”

“Ease and prosperity (though pleasing for a day) have often sunk a people into effeminacy and sloth.”

“The man who meanly will submit to wear a shackle, condemns the noblest gift of heaven, and impiously affronts the God that made him free…”

“Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.”

“An independence on Great Britain is not our aim. No, our wish is, that Britain and the colonies may, like the oak and the ivy, grow and increase in strength together.”

”But should America, either by force, or those more dangerous engines, luxury and corruption, ever be brought into a state of vassalage, Britain must lose her freedom also.”

Upcoming lecture and author talks: History Camp in Boston on March 28, 2015; and Russel Museum at Massachusetts General Hospital on June 9, 2015. Enjoyed speaking at the legendary Thursday Evening Club on March 19th.